Best CF Card Readers Reviews

I always thought that one of the beauties of this age is the way we can store, send, and receive information. If fifty years ago we could save 10 MB on a 2-ton device, we can now put a million times that amount on a card as big as a fingertip. I am not going to get nostalgic here, but I don’t think you realize how amazing that is.

There are various ways to store information, and I believe it would be a little inconvenient for every device to have a slot for every type of cards, flashes, and whatever else there is. That is why card readers were invented. They are meant to help transfer information from whatever type of storage card you prefer to your computer.

Now, CF cards are a little old-school. I believe they don’t even make PCs or laptops with a CF card reader anymore. Technology is moving so fast, and it’s letting anything behind. New things come out, the old stuff gets pulled back. It’s the cycle of technology. However, that does not mean people do not use CF cards anymore. Photographers, for example, love them. They are still made and sold all around the world.

So what do you do when you have a product like a CF card, but they don’t manufacture devices with CF card readers anymore? You buy yourself a CF card reader, of course. It’s the only logical course of action. Fortunately, they haven’t discontinued those, so you have a great variety to choose from. Not only that they kept the readers, but they keep making them better.

Why do some people prefer a CF card reader?

Because they use CF cards. And I don’t think it’s correct to say that someone prefers a CF card reader. He or she prefers CF cards, which is why they need a reader for it. The only plausible reason why you would prefer such cards instead of the SD ones is the transfer capability. Unlike SD cards, CF cards allow you to transfer a huge amount of data at all once. You can move it no matter what method you choose, but only CF will let you do that all at once.

That is why the people who prefer CF cards over SD are photographers. Canon and Nikon still have CF cards slot precisely for this reason. Imagine a high-resolution camera, with a lot of pixels, ok? Now, you go out and take about 200 photographs with it. You go back home or the studio, and you have to edit them, choose the best, etc. You need to transfer them to a computer. Now, how are you going to do that with an SD card? You will, eventually, but the photos are huge, and it will take forever. And that is why CF cards are the best. The speed transfer is way better than SD cards.

How to choose the best CF card reader?

The thing with technology is that everybody has it. Which is why there are a lot of models available for you to purchase. It’s nothing wrong with that, it’s just there is no way you could possibly know if a product is high-quality or not at a single glance. You would have to know a little bit about the product you are searching, and then make an informed decision. So here is what matters the most when you are after a CF card reader.

Does it have a single slot or multiple? There are a lot of models that provide not only a CF card slot but micro and macro SD as well. It’s all about practicality. I am not saying that single slot readers are not good. Quite the contrary actually. Some of the best models are designed just for CF cards. However, if you are in the habit of working with multiple types of cards, then a multiple slot reader is probably best for you. So look into that whenever you want to purchase a card reader.

Does it support microUSB and regular USB? This is another important aspect of the deal. Devices nowadays have all kinds of ports, but you and I both know that USB is dying. Everything is getting smaller, so do USBs. Which is why it would be best if you bought a CF card reader which has a regular USB, but also an adapter for microUSB. I have never seen a tablet with a USB port; have you? No. They all have microUSB. I think you see my point here.

Which is the transfer speed? You can have a CF card that allowsa high transfer speed, but that is useless if the reader does not help. As I mentioned before, CF cards are designed to allow high transfer rate, which is why the reader is supposed to be at least as fast. Check to see if the product you want has what you need. You don’t want a CF card reader that will make you bite your nails until the data transfer is done, now do you?

Does it need batteries? Or is it USB operated? Honestly, I prefer the latter because you don’t have to bother charging the CF reader or buying batteries. Personally, I believe it’s an unnecessary effort. I don’t even know why they still make the battery operated card readers.

I hope you understand the main idea here. In order to be a good product (and it applies to anything), there have to be some criteria met. It’s an easy thing to do a google search and pick the first thing that comes up, but it takes a bit of patience and research in order to choose the best CF card reader.

What are the best CF card readers?

The offer is huge when it comes to CF card readers. There are many manufacturers,and each one has released multiple models. There is no point in doing the math. All it matters is that there are quite a few products that will not let you down. They are well made, good transferring speed, and versatile.

PixelFlash No-Bend Pins

Just as the title suggests, the design of this CF card reader is meant to make you forget that bend pins are even a thing. I suppose you are familiar with what that means. It used to cause a lot of trouble a few years back, especially before USB came out. Bend pins would make you crazy, and at times it would ruin the jack entirely. Well, your attempts to fix it would actually destroy the jack, but that’s a whole different story.

The PixelFlash CF card reader has a small design, but it is tactical and innovative. It will not break easily. The way it’s made looks and feels very sturdy. It’s not a multipurpose card reader, it only reads CF cards, but even if it does one thing, it does it well. It will not let you down in any given situation. The motto of this product is that it doesn’t do 10 well-done jobs, but one perfect job instead. I agree with the idea. It’s better to do a single right thing than 10 bad things.

The transfer speed is high, and you will find it satisfactory. You can choose the highest speed compact flash you can find, this car reader will help. All the information you need will be at your disposal in the shortest amount of time possible. It is engineered to remove bottleneck limitations that may affect its performance.

There are four types available, depending on what you need. The product comes cabled, classic, USB 3.1 Type – C, and USB 3.0 + MicroUSB. Personally, I prefer the latter. It is compatible with virtually any device on the market. Also, it has the microUSB adapter that makes it very useful if you want to unload the card on a tablet, for instance.

One thing may bother you on the non-cable versions. If you have, let’s say 2 USB ports, and you use one to insert the PixelFlash, you will not be able to use the other port. The round design makes it impossible to use the space beside it. If you have limited space, you can always go for the cabled version of the product. Other than that PixelFlash is one of the best CF card readers on the market. Click here to read more reviews and buy on Amazon

Transcend USB 3.0 SuperSpeed Multi-Card Reader

Just like you can notice, this is a multipurpose card reader, not just a CF reader. It’s not a bad thing. This model is good enough to support all kinds of cards (SD/SDHC/SDXC/MS/CF). The more, the merrier in this case.

The card reader is USB 3.0 compatible, but it also works with USB 2.0. The fact that it is designed for super speed helps quite a lot. It is USB powered, it will take energy from whatever you plug it in. It comes in handy. I always appreciate this feature on whatever. Buying batteries or charging a card reader becomes obsolete when you plug it in a power source anyways.

The Transcend comes with a LED indicator when you insert the card or when you transfer data. It’s not a big deal, but it comes in handy. Especially if you have issues with your computer. If the lights don’t turn on then you know for sure that something is wrong, right? You don’t have to rely on the sound alone anymore.

But the speed of this thing will absolutely blow you away. I have never seen anything working so fast. It’s like an SSD, and I mean it. I don’t know if you remember your reaction when you first had to deal with an SSD, but I do. I was like ‘WOW.’ At one point I thought that the computer guessed my next move because it moved so fast. That’s the first impression with Transcend as well. It works almost too fast. Your data will be transferred in no time.

It may not be as small as the previous CF card reader, but it does more stuff, so it’s entirely understandable. The cable is short, though. If you want a longer cable, you are going to have to buy one yourself, separately from the product. Click here to read more reviews and buy on Amazon

WEme Superspeed Aluminum Multi-In-One Card Reader

This product will also support more than CF cards. It’s multipurpose, so you can acquire data from almost all types of cards. But the speed on this thing will absolutely surprise you. It can reach 5 Gbps. The time you will be spending transferring data will be the shortest you will ever experience. However, the speed also depends on the device you are unloading the data onto. And the CF card itself, of course.

The connection is easy to obtain. You don’t have to install a driver or anything. It will naturally become a part of your device and will act as an extension to your HDD. There is no need of a power supply, except the device you plug the WEme in. But as I said before, if such a device needs batteries, stay away from it.

What I like about this card reader is the design. It must be the prettiest CF card reader ever. It’s slim and is made of aluminum alloy, which makes it very light (not that the other two are too heavy). The cable is 20 cm this time, which makes it more useful for people who have to insert the jack into the back of a PC unit.

All the reason I stated above make the WEme my favorite CF card reader. The transferring speed is the reason I chose this one. It’s almost too fast, and that makes it stand out of the other products in this category, In my opinion, this is the best CF card reader ever designed.

Conclusion

There is still a need for CF card readers, even if people don’t use CF cards as much. But as long as there are a few who do, there will always be a demand for such devices. Just because we start using something less and less, that doesn’t mean that particular thing should die entirely. Click here to buy on Amazon